The Sun. — London, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, serve no purpose for the Confederates to carry. The conditions under which the war is carried on by North and by South vary essentially in this re spect., If the South stands still she is every day a gainer; with the North it is emphatically true that non progredi est regredi. From the very first the constant efforts of the journals in Mr Lincoln's in terest has been to prove that the Union troops are always gaining ground, and:many:a general (as, for in stance, Burnside at Fredericksburg) has been goaded on to hid ruin by the cry, " Defeat is better than inaction." That Grant is no nearer to the capture of Richmond than he was when he crossed the Rapidan is the counter assertion of the Richmond journals every week. With the exception of the inevitable weariness incident to so unremitting a campaign as Lee's troops have sustained since the 4th of May, his strength at this hour, thanks to his careful economy and judicious handling of his men, compares very favourably with his strength on the first day of this year's campaign. It will be seen, therefore, that Lee's ability to hold Richmond and (if it seem desirable) Petersburg throughout the winter hinges upon the two questions whether he can supply his army as well as the inhabitants of the two principal cities of Virginia ; and, secondly, whether the army of General Grant during the winter months can be reinforced to the extent of from 100,000 to 150,000 men. Less than the for mer number, added to Grant's present force, will have no chance against the earthworks which girdle Richmond, and which I have so often described. It is the universal belief of thoughtful men in the South that Virginia will be the chief scene of Mr Lincoln's efforts during the remainder of this year. Large bodies of Federal troops have lately been withdrawn from the Mississippi River —as, for ex• ample, the troops in Northern Mississippi, which have been held in check in the neighbourhood of Tupelo and Oxford by General Forrest for the last six months—and it was at first believed that they would be added to the strength of General Sherman. But there is reason now to suppose that Sherman's force has been diminished rather than increased, and that these reinforcements are designed for Vir, ginia, and are on their road to Grant or Sheridan. One result of the withdrawal of this Federal force from Northern Mississippi will be to liberate the ablest, most active, and most efficient cavalry cap tain whom the Confederate States have as yet pro. duced. General Forrest is a rough, uncultivated Western man, but in force of character, in promp. titude of action, and in adaptation to the wild and fatiguing warfare in which he is engaged, it is doubtful whether a more formidable guerilla chief ever drove spur into a horse's flank. It is said that since the commencement of the war he has had thirty horses killed under him. I never entertained much expec tation of the achievements which Gen. Wheeler and the Confederate horsemen under his charge would accomplish, but I shall be surprised if Gen. Forrest does not exert a disturbing influence upon Sherman's communications. But a point of greater interest either than Rich• mond or Atlanta:seems likely before long to be the very spot from which lam now writing. It is doubtful whether any other town in Secessia, not even Richmond or Augusta, with its contribution of 10,000 lb. of gunpowder per diem, has exercised such an influence upon the fortunes of this war as the insignificant little port of Wilmington, from which before the war only one shipment of 200 bales of cotton direct to Europe had ever been made, but from which the sinews of war, in the guise of cotton bales, have flowed out uninterruptedly to England for three years past, while an amount of war mate rial and of supplies of all kinds has been sucked in through this same gate to an extent of which your readers have little conception. There is no other port which existed in 1861 so favourable to blockade runners as Wilmington and the mouth of the Cape Fear River. The astonishing want of enter. prise which characterised the Yankee navy during the first 12 months of the war led to the disregard of a river the mouth of which was for many months defended only by two or three small field pieces, with half a deem rounds of ammunition to each. If, instead of indulging tha spite of Boston against Charleston, in April, 1863, the whole power of the Federal navy had been turned against Wil mington, the course of this war might have been more influenced than by burning ten cities like Charleston, or capturing half a dozenVicksburgs. As matters now stand, the capture at present of Wil mington (were it possible) would, for reasons which it is not necessary to state, produce no result; and secondly, Wilmington, long unmolested, has grown into such a fortress as to defy the utmost efforts of the Yankees from the sea. I have in vain urged upon your readers the importance to England of being represented by one or two of her ablest milis tart' engineers, to learn aright the lessons of this war; but I may mention that in constructing the forts at Duppel a capable Prussian engineer adapted the peculiar system of earthwork and traverses which he had seen at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and proved that European military engineers may learn with advantage from the skill of a Beauregard and a Whiting as much as was taught them by the genius of Todleben. Talk of the experiments in rifled cannon at Shoeburyness! An English artillery man might watch the firing of the Armstrong shunt gun, of the Whitworth, of the Brook gun, and of every variety of smooth-bore at the mouth of Cape Fear with the additional enlightenment which real war confers beyond the experience gained from a sham rehearsal. So long as Wilmington was merely a point of entry and of exit for blockade runners it received comparatively little attention from that Old Man of the Sea, Mr Gideon W elles ; but the recent exodus from this port and the return hither of the Talla hassee, after playing the questionable part of Paul Jones off the harbour of New York, seem to have attracted hither the notice of those active spirits in the North who have conducted this war through out upon the principle cf shutting the stable door when the steed is stolen. It is universally expected here that a formidable attack, probably conducted by that renegade son of Virginia, Admiral Farragut, is shortly imminent. I can promise him that ample cheer awaits him here, and that he has got a harder nut to crack than Forts Morgan and Gaines at Mobile. There has been much laughter and chuckling here about the recent entry into this port of Captain Taylor W ood, after his successful cruise in the Tallahassee. Captain Wood came one dark night right through the Yankee blockaders, and was fired upon like an ordi nary blockade runner. He immediately responded by firing his broadside in the direction of the flash of the gun which he had seen. The Federal Cap tain naturally concluded that he had fired upon one of his own associates, and showed a red light Captan Wood fired at the red light. Another Federal captain then showed a blue light. Captain Wood fired at the blue light. This led to a general cannonading from the Yankee vessels all round, and Captain Wood left them firing upon each other and in blind and perplexing confusion, long after he had slipped away from their vicinity and was safely anchored under the guns of Fort Fisher. September 24. Since the above letter was written information has been received that a disaster, occasioned appa rently by General Early's contemptuous estimate of his enemy, has overtaken his army, which will long be memorable as having cost the Confederacy one of its most valuable lives. It appears that Early, hav ing been weakened by the withdrawal from his ranks of that portion of Anderson's (late Long street's) corps which had been sent two months ago to the Valley, continued, with very inferior forces as compared with Sheridan's, to occupy his old lines between Winchester and Berryville, instead of fall ing back to the very strong position some 20 miles in the rear, which has long been regarded as the key to the Valley, and which is at a piece called Fisher's-hill, in the neighbourhood of Strasburg. Upon the 19th inst. Sheridan, inspirited, as it is here believed, by a visit from Grant, who was with very heavy army with him on the preceding day, attacked Early in pelted Early to retreat i a t n h d a large after b fl e a d n y k e i flankin g of which I have received no details, a gaavtahlerylciotmtle. to Strasburg. The action, pears to have been one of the sharpest of the war , an d to b bewailed principally in connection wit hthe s ' of General Rodes, one of the most Generals in the Confederate service, d he M ert promising . ajor It will be (From the Times' Special Correspondent.) WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, Sept. 22. I have rarely essayed to lift the curtain of the future, or to venture upon prophecies in regard to this mighty and inscrutable conclusion, which laughing philosophers like Mr Seward pronounced a 90 days' emeute, which many a Southerner, be. lieving in the kingship of cotton, regarded as a struggle in which, before six months had flown, the principals would be England and the Northern States, but which may now be u nhesitatingly de• scribed as the most momentous incident of the nineteenth century. But it needs no prophet at this moment to announce that it is impossible the next six months can pass without entirely altering the aspect of the war and the attitude of the weary and eXhausted combatants. There is universally a sense of the critical and compromising nature of the circumstances which surround both Governments such as I have never witnessed before. The spring of 1865 will have seen either the abandonment by Mr Lincoln of his impossible undertaking, or the capture of Petersburg, if not of Richmond, by Gen. Grant, and the assumption of a new attitude by the Southerners in the resistance which for generations to come they will never cease to offer, rather than be trodden down under a heel such as has recently crushed the life out of Poland. It is probable that the onward march of Sherman into Georgia will be arrested at Atlanta. In several of my previous letters (many of which I have reason to believe have recently been unsuccessful in piercing the blockade with safety) I have pointed out the embarrassments with which Sherman was beset when undertaking by far the most hazardous enterprise yet attempted by the Federals in this war. It would be gross injustice to deny to Sher man the credit which his success in ,capturing Atlanta deserves—a success which is largely due to his personal attributes, or, as they are phrased by Northern newspaper correspondents (between whom and Sheridan there is much such harmony as exists between lambs and wolves), his' eccentricities." To have conducted a campaign from a base distant 300 miles away from Atlanta, the object of his operations —I refer to Nashville in Central Tennessee—to have kept open for six months his communication along this entire distance upon a single line of railway, crossing several great rivers and numberless creeks, and traversing a country every foot of which is in habited by a hostile population—to have dispensed with all such assistance as is contributed to Grant by the Potomac and James rivers, and to have finally prevailed in the proximate object of the cam peign—that is to say, in the capture of Atlanta, is no mean achievement. Nor is the full credit to which Sherman is entitled less freely accorded to him in Richmond than in Washington, whatever may be the opinions entertained in the former city as to the fiendish inhumanity of several of his let. ters and public utterances. It is difficult to conceive how a believer in the Republican axiom that Go. vernments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed can reconcile to its conscience such measures as Gen. Sherman has not scrupled to adopt towards the helpless non-combatants who lame fallen into his hands. But, in according to Sherman the praise which is justly his due as an able and tenacious General, it must not be forgotten that there is all the difference in the world between Georgia and Virginia. In the latter State it has never been possible for the Fede rals to keep open even 40 miles of railroad with a view of supplying their army along it. If it be practicable for Sherman to keep open a line of railroad from Nashville to Atlanta, why has it never been possible for M'Clellan or any of his successors to keep open a line from Washington to Richmond, which are divided from each other by only 120 miles ? The distance from Acqua Creek, on the Potomac, to Richmond, via Fredericksburg, is little more than 60 miles, with a line of railroad already in existence at the commencement of the war, as was the case between Nashville and Atlanta. And yet the Fe derals have never been able to avail themselves of any portion of this railroad, with the exception of the ten miles between Acqua Creek and Fredericks burg. The inference is irresistible that the Georgians and Virginians are made of different stuff. I am not blind to the fact that the far sparser population of Tennessee and Northern Georgia than of Virginia is an element highly favourable to Sherman; Bat 1 have long been of opinion that of the two great armies of the Federals, their Western army is coms posed of much finer material than their Eastern, whereas the Confederates under General Lee have always bz en vastly superior to those in the,West who have successively obeyed Sydney Johnson, Beaure gard, Bragg, Joseph E. Johnson, and Hood. General Grant finds it almost impossible to keep up tele graphic lines between Petersburg and Norfolk, and has been betrayed into impetuous outbursts of me nace against the residents in those counties of Vire ginia which are situated along the Southern bank of the James River between City point and Norfolk, because certain of General Lee's scouts have inter fered with the telegraph wires. It is obvious that Grant might as well threaten and storm, because General Hampton and the Confederate cavalry have recently picked up 2,500 head of cattle behind the Federal lines—but the wrath of the Federal General against the inhabitants of Surrey and Nansereond counties indicates of what stuff are the men by which these counties are peopled. Refuges, ejected from their homes in Northern Georgia, and turned adrift in a desolate and uninhabited region, have not the resources which await outcasts in a more densely peopled territory, like Virginia, and are, therefore, more easily terrified by a Sherman into passive ac quiesence in the presence of a hated foe. But, in addition to this, there is beyond question a stubborn ness in the temper of men, women, and children in Virginia which they are proud to attribute to the fact that good English blood runs undefiled in their veins to an extent unknown in any other State of the old Union. When the census of 1850 was taken it was found that out of a population in Virginia rather exceeding one million there were only 20,000 persons who had not been born within the State, The spirited and lofty endurance of the Old Domi nion throughout this war is a fact of which Eogi land might justly claim to be as proud as she was of the unshrinking vigour with which her sons and daughters confronted the mutiny in Hindostan, and triumphed over dangers and against odds which have never been paralleled. It is possible many of your readers, taking their impressions from Mr Seward's recent speech at Auburn and from the tone of the Northern journals, may believe that Grant's army is growing from day to day and from week to meek, while Lee is suffering from disease, desertion, and depression to the extent represented in the same veracious chronicles. lam in a position to throw some light upon this subject, and I may here remark that the extent of informa tion possessed by Gen. Lee as to the movements and numbers of the enemy (and, as I doubt not, possessed also by Gen. Grant on the same subject) is probably unexampled since armies faced each other in the field. This may probably be attributable to the fact that no such war between men speaking the same tongue has been witnessed ; and also to the light imparted to the Governments and generals upon either side by the journals issuing daily from Richmond and New York, and inter changed almost before the ink with which they are printed is dry, There is not a transport or war vessel which goes up or down the James River whose name, arm amen t, tonnage, cargo, and (if she carries troops) number of passengers are not approxi. mately known to General Lee. It is not necessary that I should state more than that Grant had last wc o c five army corps in front of Lee. It is a liberal computation to estimate each of these corps at 10.000 inen._lf Lee regarded his troops as Grant views his army, and were disposed to sacrific e th e m with analogoue callousness, I do not hesitate to concur in the opinion of most of Lee's inferior officers that Grant would have been in full retreat before the Ist of October. The Weldon railroad, now held with loud F reins of self-laudation by Warren's Federals, could, in General Beauregard's judgment, be regained with a loss of at most 1,500 Confederates. Bat it is felt while the end of this war, or Southern independence, is being slowly reached by the gradual inertness of resistance which bars the door to Richmond, it is little less than murder to throw troops against intrenchments which it will found, I think, that Early will be strong enough to hold his ground at Strasburg until winter makes further operations in the Valley impossible. Meantime, in spite of the paeans in the Northern journals as to the vast reinforcements which are going forward to Grant, it is the universal opinion here that tens of thousands, not only of men, but of efficient soldiers, will be required to prevail against a system of defence upon which Lee has lavished all the resources of his science. It is hard to say what will be the result if during the whole of next year the Federal Government can command men by the hundred thousand who are willing to surrender life in order that the Union may be resuscitated ; but I see no reason to think that there will be any change in the position of affairs before Petersburg during the coming winter unless it be possible that Lee may fall back to the west bank of the Appomattox, and hold the fine defensive position afforded by the hills which line the left bank of that stream. There is abundant cause for thinking that Wilmington is the great thorn in the flesh of the Federals at this moment, and that we shall witness a desperate attack upon this place within the next seven weeks. It is hardly possible that operations against it could be con ducted in the winter, as the coast of North Carolina is notoriously dangerous of approach at that season. V * 4 This letter has been delayed in transmission. We have already published letters from the same correspondent to the 12th ult.] Royal ociety, Last evening thin society opened the session for ISG4-65 at their apartments in Burlington-house. Among the com pany, which included several ladies, were the Duke of Wel lington, Earl of Cork, Lord Milton, Sir li, James, Sir H. Rawlinson, Sir T. Nicolson , Sir A, S. Waugh, Dr Living stone, Sir T. Fremantle, Admiral W. 11, Hall, Admiral CoHinson, Mr Vamberry, Mr H. Merivale, Mr Arrowsmith, and Mr J. M. Stuart. Sir R. I. MURCHISON, the president of the society, was upon his entrance into the room greeted with much ap plause. On taking the chair ho proceeded to open the ses sion with the following observations, which he declined to call a formal address, as that was only made at the anniver sary meeting of the society :—" Assembled as we are now to commence the 35th session of this society, we begin, as last year, with the consideration of those geographical pro blems regarding the interior of Africa which aro still in process of solution. This is indeed a very natural course, for while our enterprising countrymen well know thdt of all distant regions Africa offers the widest untrodden field for their researches, they also feel that, being the most difficult and hazardous, the greater will be the honour and distinc tion gained by its successful exploration. It was this stimuli lus that urged on the distinguished explorer Speke, who on his return last year with his companion Grant received, not only at our hand, but at those of the nation, a tribute of ap probation never to be forgotten, and which will long serve as an incitement to future travellers. In the interval which has elapsed since the brilliant reception of Speke in this hall we have had, alas t to lament the loss of that gallant spirit. The catastropo of his death naturally threw a gloom over the proceedings of our associates at the late meeting of the British Association at Bath. As the president of the section of geography and ethnology it fell to my duty to transmit a few words of condolence to his adhicted parents, as coming from the united body of geographers and ethnologists ; and subsequently I had the sad privilege (in conjunction with Grant and Livingstone) of following to the grave the remains of the undaunted traveller who had thus been taken from us in the zenith of his career, at a time when ho earnestly desired to win new triumphs in the .chosen field of his re searches. I am sure, gentlemen, you will desire, as I do, to honour the memory of the man who was the first among Europeans to traverse Central Equatorial Africa from south to north, and who, proceeding from his own lake, Victoria Nyanza, followed its waters to the mouth of the Nile. Imbued with this feeling, I lost no time, after his interment, in taking steps towards the :erection of a monu ment to his memory, by means of :subscription—and I am happy to find that already a number of my colleagues have affixed their names to the list which, after the additions it may receive in the days following this meeting will go forth as our appeal to the public. At our next anniversary it will be my duty to give you :a brief sketch of the life of this devoted explorer—and in the meantime, while inviting you to subscribe to his memorial, I may add that our ob. ject is simply to obtain a sum sufficient to erect an obelisk A Scoto-American on the War and War Prices, (Fr©m the Scotsman.) The following is an extract from a letter from an ex-Edinburgh man to his brother here, dated New York, Oct. 25, 1864. The writer, who with his family has been settled for 13 years in America, is .n business in New York. In this country his poli tical views were of a Radical caLt, but he appears o have been converted by practical experience o: Democracy. Referring to th© war, ho says : " It is a fearful waste of human life, and to-day, to all appearance, as far from a settlement as it was three years agoL lamat a loss how to account for the coldness with which the people of this country receive from day to day the accounts of thousands of their friends and relations cut down in the prime of life—and for what ? Just that one party may rule over another, and dictate to others how they should manage their concerns instead of attending similar to that which was reared in honour of Lieutenan , Bellot, who perished in the search after Franklin. On this monument the name of John Harming Speke will stand out as the simplest and best eulogy of his main achievement. Apart from this sorrowful epi sode, the proceedings of the geographers and ethnolo gists at the Bath meeting were eminently successful. I may say it with satisfaction that this section of the British Association (a section formed on a suggestion of my own in 1847) has now become so attractive that it is, if possible, more numerously attended than that of geology, which has hitherto taken the lead in popularity. A generous and healthy rivalry like this is a sure sign that much is common to the two noble sciences of geography and geology, and that the cultivation of the one are effectively throwing light on the researches of the other. Referring you to the published reports for an account of the nume rous interesting and original papers which were read before the Geographical Section at Bath, I must here call especial attention to one portion of our proceedings. A recommendation was proposed by our indefatigable asso ciate Mr Findlay, having for its object the continuation of those researches into the depth of the ocean and the nature of the sea bottom which attracted so much attention a few years ago. This was considered to promise such decided advantages to science that I had sincere gratification in ob taining the sanction of the association at large to the recom mendation, and a committee was nominated (consisting of Admiral Collinson, Mr Findlay, and myself) for the purpose of requesting her Majesty's Government to cause the vessels of the royal navy to be furnished with the apparatus adopted by Dr Wallich and used in her Majesty's ship Bulldog, commanded by Sir Leopold ial.‘Clintock, in order to pursue those important investigations. It is to be hoped, in the wording of the recommendation, that the exigencies of her Majesty's navy and the discipline of her .hips may permit these researches to be carried out, at least to some extent, and that the records may be forwarded to the Hydrographia Department, and the specimens to the Geological Museum, where they may be rendered available to the public. To sass on to the subjects for consideration at this our opening meeting, I have to say that the first memoir to be read is one by Capt. Burton on the interesting subject of the drain age of Central Africa, particularly as regards the head waters of the Nile ; and I have no doubt that this energetic and accomplished traveller will so put the case as to arouse in us the sttougest desire to see cleared up, by reucwed expe ditions, this great question, whickwas so ably set forth by Dr Beke, whose views have since been supported by the geographer Findlay, as well as by the antiquarian researches of Mr John Hogg and Mr Vaux. It is true that one or more of these points may probably he elucidated by the enterprising Baker, direct news from whom we must patiently await; for, according to the ace runts gleaned by Petherick from the men belonging to an Arab trader, Biker had recently visited some great lake, probably the Luta Nsigcl, and was safe in the interior. After the last journey of Livingstone towards the northern end of his lake Nyassa, when he came to the conclusion that no large water flowed into it from the north, it has become evident that no problem concerning the internal drainage of Africa can be more deserving of attention than the configu ration of the country between the northern end of Nyassa and the southern end of the lake Tanganyika, of Burton and Speke, an interval of about 360 miles. To fill up this void in our maps of Africa, and to settle the great question to be brought before us this evening, I venture to say that (with the exception of Livingstone himself) no one is more com petent t h an hi s c oadjutor, Dr Kirk, should he have the op portunity, to lead an exploring party in this direction. His mien of varied natural history knowledge, undaunted per severance, and acclimatised constitution, not to forget his conciliatory manners, eminently fit him for an enterprise which would task the resources of most travellers. Another communication to be laid before you this evening will be a recent letter from M. du Chaillu, addressed to myself—one of several which he has written to his friends in this coun try on the eve of his departure for the unknown interior of Western Equatorial Africa. / doubt not this letter will meet with approval even on the part of those who most criticised the narrative of his former journey ; for it exhibits the ho nesty and tenacity of purpose, as well as the lofty aims, of this courageous explorer. Our society may be well pleased that it should have supplied Du Chaillu with new instru ments, to replace those which he had procured for himself, but lost by the upsetting of a canoe when he was disem lections of natural history ob jects, After occupying the inter bvaa r l k i n i n gaccumulatingboo large Gan ts c n o t i r which ho has forwarded to London (including large specimens of the gorilla in the preserved state for presenta tion to the British Museum, and a live gorilla to be offered to the Zoological Society), the solitary explorer has now de parted on his errand to reach the central watershed of Africa, where he supposes the Congo and the western branches of the Nile take their origin. Our assistant-secretary, Mr Bates, has performed the useful duty of abridging, for coma munication to this meeting, Et portion of the volumino us notes of the late Richard Thornton, referring to his exploration of the snow-capped mountain of Kilimadjaro. Mr Thornton, in the earliest and last parts of his scientific career, acted in co-operation with Dr. Livingstone on the Zambesi, and in the interval was the companion of Baron von der Decken in his first remarkable expedition. The re sults of the labours of this fine young man, so prematurely cut off, must bo divide I between the Geological and the Geographical Societies; for Richard Thornton possessed just the character which I can best appreciate..viz., that of a man who unites in his own person the power of deci phering the outlines of the surface of the earth with that of explaining the structure of its crust and the changes it has successively undergone. Before we proceed to the business of the meeting, let me inform you that I have received letters from our medallist of last session, the Baron Charles von der Decken, written from the Seychelles Islands, on his way to Zanzibar, where, doubtless, her Majesty's Consul, at the instance of Earl Russell, and our naval officers, by the direction of the Duke of Somerset, will do everything in their power to facilitate his putting together the river steamers which he takes with him, and by which ho hopes to ascend the Jub, or some neighbouring. river. To carry his enterprise to a successful conclusion, this self-sacrificing explorer will need the assistance of the Egyptian authori ties, as it is intended, if possible, to cross the water-shed which divides the Eastern African rivers from the basin of the Nile; and, possessing only a formal passport of the Pasha, ho has applied to me to procure for him a finnan of a more influential character. This, lam happy to say, is in a fair way of b ins arranged, as I have obtained from Sir H. Bulwer, her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, a promise that he will take such steps as he doubts not will speedily procure the transmission of Zanzibar of a firman giving to Baron von der Decken the means of obtaining the aid he desires. Thus we may hope that from the east as well as the west side of Africa successful explorations will soon lay open many portions of the interior of that conti nent which still remain unknown. The interest which the public and ourselves take in all questions of African explo ration will, lam happy to say, be kept alive through the ensuing session by the application of Dr. Livingstone and Mr Charles Livingstone'a narrative of the expedition to the Zambesi and Lake Nyassa ; an d also by the issue of a volume by the gallant Capt. Grant before ho returns to military service in India, entitled "A Walk across Africa, in which the domestic scenes of the natives of Equatorial Africa will bo vividly described. In concluding, allow me to say that in describing any Afr i can questions in which theory is involved I trust our proc eedings may be conduct ed, as heretofore, with that mutual good feeling which has always characterised them. Let discussions which assume too disputatious a character bo confined to the various to their own. That has been the cause of all the fearful waste of blood and money; and now I am confident it has come to a point that there can be no settlement unless iu separation. This great coun. try used to be the boast of all lovers of man, as an example of man's being able to rule himself. This is at an end, and I am also convinced that the South will not be the only part that will separate—other sections will break off to save themselves from the pit the war has dug. You at home cannot imagine how the people are grumbling at the heavy taxa tion that is pat upon them. It was their boast that in this free country there were no taxation and no tax.gatherers, as in the old country. However, I very soon found out the difference. If the taxman did not come to your door once a-year, as at home, I found the landlord or hie agent on the first o every month. At home the tenant pays the local taxes according to rent; here the landlord pays them all and puts it on the rent; and the great democracy thought they paid no taxes, and were quite well pleased, and voted in the Scum of society as their rulers; they, of course, rose from street-sweepers to rule over a great and a free people. I have often looked with surprise to see men put up for office when, if they had had their desert©, they would have been serving the State in a very different way. But, as I have said to you before, this all arises from universal suf frage ; the thing don't work. If there had been a clause in the constitution compelling men either to hold property or pay a certain amount of rent, there would have been a very different class of men sent to represent the country; and if I mistake not, this war would have been avoided, and the country would have gone on prospering.' Bad and corrupt rulers will destroy the best country ever the sun shone upon ; and such is the fate of this. lam sorry for it, because it was a good home for the poor man, and one where, by industry, he could make a comfortable living. lam afraid that is at an end. . . . Sinca this most unnatural war commenced, only one class of men has made money, and thal class must have influence to get army or navy work, An honest man h:z.s no chance whatever—and never was there a people EO shamefully robbed with their eyes open to it ; but the thing is so universal that they think nothing of it, You would listen with surprise to hear them sometimes in my store talking over their acts of villany ; and those that listen smile and put them down as devilish smart fellows. Everything in the way of housekeeping is three or four prices, and clothing is out of the question for a peer man. I paid for James last week for a pair of bled: pants 15 dols., or £3 of your money ; last night he had a pair of boots footed, 7 1 - i dols., or £1 103.-90 you see money don't go far. You can't get a good overcoat this winter short of 80 do's., or £l6; so you can judge how the man with a small income can get along; and provisioes are in keeping with the above. Coal, that used to be about 5 dols. in the fall of the year, sold at 143 dole. this. Flour has more than doubled. Tea, sugar, coffee, &c. the same. Even vegetables, a small cab bage-stock, which used to cost 3c., is now 15c. But how can it be otherwise ? Everything is taxed, it don't matter what it is ; even lucifer matches, I have bought them for Bc. a pack-36 small bundles in a pack, Now, each bundle has to have on it a one-cent. Government stamp—so be tween 36 stamps, the rise otherwise, the Bc. packs age that used to be is now charged 50e. Everything is tax, tax ; all to assist one section of a Republic to force the other to their views, just or unjust. It would make your heart sick it you were obliged, as I am sometimes, to listen to soldiers who have re turned from the seat of war describing what they saw—of wilful destruction to thousands of once happy and comfortable families—whole sections of fine country laid desolate with fire and sword. To day, I heard a captain who came home last night from the Shenandoah Valley. The account he gave me was heartrending, although, apparently, he did not think so. The Valley is the garden of the State of Virginis, rich in farming lands—in fact, the beat in the South. Grant gave the order some weeks ago that, wherever the Federal army went, they should destroy everything; and they have faith fully fulfilled his commands. The captain told me to-day that for miles the eye could see nothing but smoke from the burning farm-houses, barns, hay stacks, flour mills, &c. Nothing left that was likely to support man or beast. Those possessed of cattle of any description had it taken from them and sent to the Federal lines. flow long will this continue ? And this is the way one party of men thinks to get the other into the Union. No, those men have lost their all—their homes destroyed ; fathers and brothers killed fighting to defend them—mothers and sisters gone to their last account, broken hearted I What have they to live for, let me ask you—you, a father of a family ? The answer is, I know, Revenge. So long as God gives me strength to wield a sword or carry a musket.' This is, in my opinion, the sentiment of the Southern people." THE BRIG o' Tunic HOTEL.—ti r o regret to learn that at a late hour on Thursday a moat destruc tive fire broke out in the Brig o' Turk Hotel, situated some two or three miles from Loch Katrine, and known to all tourists in Scotland. It commenced about the upper parts of the building, and was not subdued till nearly the entire building was burnt down, Owing to the exertions of those in the neighbourhood a good deal of the furniture was saved. We aro glad to hear that the furnishings, valued, it is said, at about 22.,000, are covered partly by insurance. The house was the property of the Earl of Moray, but we have not yet heard whether any insurance was effected on it. It will be recollected that the Prince and Princess of Wales not long ego t o;)le up their residence at the hotel -22 apart ments havin ET been engaged for the loyal party and suite,—Caledoniax Mercury. [ADVERTISEMENT.] --Holloway's Pilis,--E nfeebled Existence.—This medicine embraces every attribute re quired in a general and domestic remedy ; it overturns the foundations of disease laid by indigestible food and impure air. In obstructions or congestions of the liver, lungs, bowels, or any other organ, these pills are especially ser viceable and eminently successful. They should be kept in every family, as they are a medicine without a fault for young persons, and those of feeble constitutions. They never cause pain or irritate the most sensitive nerves or most tender bowels. Holloway's pills aro the best known purifiers of the blood, and the best promoters of absorption and secretion, which remove all poisonous and obnoxious particles from both solids and fluids. THE SVN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, ISOVEMBER 15, 1864. periodicals open to such contributions, where the contend ing parties may find full space to advocate their respective views. Exciting as these topics are, and valuable as they often prove in leading to great discoveries, their real im portance must be determined by the testimony of such patient observers as Livingstone and others now happily present in this room, whose well-defined observations are recorded in the volumes of our society. Lastly, let me con• gratulate you on our increasing prosperity, as testified by the cheering fact that at this the first meeting of the session no less than 37 candidates are desirous of being enrolled as Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society." Before resuming his sea 7.. Sir R. MURCHISON announced that the Emperor of Brazil had been elected that morning one of the five honorary members of the society, and that a telegram had been received, stating that the African steamer Calabar brought word of the safe arrival of Dr Baikie from exploring the Niger and adjacent territory. Capt. BURTON then read a paper entitled "Lake Tan yika, Ptolemy's Western Lake Reservoir of the Nile." This treatise, which was of considerable length, and which was illustrated by frequent references to a huge map of Africa, suspended on the wall, professed to be a purely geographical notice of a paper by Captain Spoke, " The upper basin of the Nile from inspection and informations." It entered into a great variety of geographical details, combating the late Capt. Speke's theory in reference to the source of the Nile. The view taken by Capt. Burton may be generally conveyed by quoting the few last sentences of his paper :-- "I believe Ptolemy's Niger to be not less exactly laid down than his Nile, and that he knew more about it than Europe did before the days of Richard Lander. And in confidence of his sagacity I cannot but believe the Tanganyika to be the western lake reservoir of Father Nile. The word 'source' is expressly avoided, in the belief, with Mr M'Queen, that a lake unless it be a more ' eye' of water, cannot be taken as the head of a river, though the river may issue from it. Lake Baikal is not the bead of the Yenessei River, Lake Tsana is not the head of the Blue Nilo, Lake Geneva is not the he'd of the Rhone, Lake Lausanne is not the head of the Rhine, Lake Superior is not the head of the St. Lawrence, nor Lake Winnipeg the head of the Sas katchewan, and so of other rivers on this globe. I will conclude with a statement, which to some may appear para doxical—namely, that the real sources of the Nile, the 'great Nile problem,' so far from being ' settled for ever' by the late exploration, are thrown further from discussion than before. They are not, we have been told, in nubibua, but they elude our vision. The exploratory labours of years, perhaps of a whole generation, must be lavished before even a rough:survey of the southernNileotio basin can treat the subject with approximate correctness of detail. litais les sources du Nil, sont elles decouvertes ? inquires our fellow labourer in the field of geographical science, M. V. A, Malte-Brun, Avis no le croyonspas. No geographer does, no geographer can, believe in the actual settlement of the Nile sources. That the Tanganyika is the western top head of the great Nile, and that the Bahiri-Ngo, which supplies the Tubiri, is the eastern, I have little doubt. But the Arcanum Magnum of Old-World Geography has not yet been solved. It still remains to this generation, as to its forefathers, ' Caput quabrere Nili'—to close the Canon of geographical discovery." After a brief discussion, in which Dr Livingstone, who was warmly applauded on rising to speak, took part, Sir R. Muntellisox read a letter from Captain Grant, testifying to Capt. Speke's accuracy of observation during his journey, and explaining that the " Mountains of the Moon,", as they were drawn in the original maps, were merely an exaggeration of the engravers, originating not with him, but in some foreign map made by a German for his rough sketches. The President of the society then con gratulated the company on the tone in which the discussion had been conducted, and said nothing had fallen from the eminent author of the paper which they had just heard read which could for a moment divert them from the intention of subscribing for a moment to that distinguished traveller, Captain Speke; for whether Captain Burton were entirely right and Captain Spoke wrong, at any rate Captain Speke was the first to traverse Equatorial Africa from the south to the north. As to the great question under discussion, no thing but the investigation of travellers could decide that, and he had received a letter from M. Du Chaillu mention ing his intention to follow the line of the equator as far as possible, until he met some river flowing into the Nile. M. Du Chaillu added that he had sent to the British Museum seven gorilla skeletons and six gorilla skins preserved in salt, and among the live stock, he added, would be found a live gorilla. (Hear, and laughter.) Captain BURTON observed, with respect to the statement relative to the Mountains of the Moon, that they were dis tinctly marked in the map which Captain Speke first sent over. The meeting then broke up about 11 o'clock, The accounts from the manufacturing districts for the past week have in some instances been satisfactory. At Manchester there has been a lair inquiry for cloths and yarns for the Indian markets, and prices have shown an upward tendency. The woollen trade of Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield, however, has been dull, while at Leices ter and Nottingham only moderate transactions have taken place in both hosiery and lace goods. In the hardware districts of Birmingham, Sheffield, and Wolverhampton there has been little change of importance. A MONSTER GUN.—A 201 n. Rodman gun was re. cently tried with success at New York. The Hemlci says :—" Though this gun has already been described in the Herald it will not be out of place here to say that it weighs nearly 117,0001 b. Its diameter or thickness is nearly 6ft at the breach, and its bore is 20in. The solid shot it throws is 1,0301 b in weight, and the regular charge of pow der is 100 lb, which may be increased to 1251 b. It is calcu • lated that there are few armoured ships afloat whose sides this monster would not crush. The gun was first loaded with the regular charge of powder-100lb —a blank car. tridge, and fired amid the applause of the spectators, The report was not louder than that of a 10-pounder Parrott loaded wish solid sho', nor was it near so shr Probably it did not create so great a concussion of the atmosphere, and could not be heard so far. On examining the monster to see the effect, it was noticed that it had only deigned to roll itself back disdainfully about two feet. The air was sulphurous for a considerable distance around it. This time the " big fellow" was loaded with 501 b of powder and a solid shot weighing I,oBolb. The shot was driven 600 or 800 yards, when it dropped in the bay, ricocheted two or three times, knocking up splashes of spray as large as a ship in full sail and twice as high, and finally disappeared in the water. On examining the gun after this discharge it was found to have moved on its carriage just enough to show that it knew how to work and to work easy. The final trial was by far the most interesting and important of all that preceded it. Great impatience for the result was manifested by the spectators. A heavy concussion of the ground as well as the atmosphere was now looked for, and there was just enough of anxiety for the safety of the giant, who was now become a pet among those who were not familiar with its COAL M rrloem of Coal per Ton at powers, as to lend the additional charm of excitement to the interest hitherto felt. The gun had now in a full charge of 1001 b, of powder, and I,oBolb. ball, At length it was loaded, and it Iwas announced that the fuse was about to be fired, Every one rushed out of the way, and many took shelter behind the redoubts of the fort. The fuse hissed and flamed, s. d. Baddle'slirest Hartley 20 3, Cowpen Hartley 20 3 Bower's West Hartley.2o 3 Eden Main 22 0 West Hartley 20 3 Tan.field Moor 16 9 Hastings Hartley 2O 3 Ships at mark) but while all waited breathlessly for the flash, it only turned with tt ' successor, lest such right might be abuse tna i. 13 1 object of making his own reign P er P e •ngs they did not foresee a condition of th i li s i t a which a President could at pleasure R0,7°1000 tial law, and under the plea polit ical rotec.Vdfl zone in the exercise of their p righ,' 11 0, 0 chise every political opponent. The in f n e T o or . , of the several States composing the Un inli co tOn the keystone of the arch of the American r icolt 6 - 1 tion, but curiously enough it has been the P Ac ooti . object of the attacks of the Administration I c e r e ing to the letter and the spirit of the law, L es e sdr i lation of the election in each state entirely be e sively on the State officials, and is entir : e lta , the control of the authorities at Weel l ' li ' s upra the conduct of the present election th is iejo ta, canon of the constitutional law is ent ireil diSat e t In Tennessee the Governor (who is nafiv dt Vice-Presidency), by an excess of autbo.ri would be simply ludicrous if it was not ' sw ot! mitted to, required that every voter shuntodooo,, support the existing Administration, ar c su b l e f gs . t right to take part in the election of u pos strate whose title exclusively depends e tt suffrages of the entire people. On ePP ea he 0 0 10 the supreme executive, the manifesto of t of nor of Tennessee was confirmed, altbouge4edie,! same time it was admitted to be a c lever e lect; to give the victory at the approachlo to the person who devised it , and t n pptir t i l ; so solemnly approved it. In tion ° s/` which though nominally formi n g a por Union, is in truth a State in the military ° , O to of a conqueror, the purity of election W bo otit 4 secured by bodies of soldiers at the Poll ing ; t)° 11 , whose duties would consist in affording., f o ot , ' whom Mr Lincoln calls loyal citizens ever/n, for recording their votes, and in proven% of 10 whom he terms rebels defeating the wit lhe ,, r tiaj more exemplary fellow-citizens by suPP en t candidate who seeks to supplant the Prthiel ,0 of the Administration. In Louisiana, " st so Federal Government effect to have subi,lthen same tactics will be employed, and even '" deal' of New York the Military Commandant ha s dea l ' that the elections should take place unde rm bett vision. Unless, then, a collision has arisen, oo tol a the civil and the military authorities, anu,,,d, tb the elections been postponed or iavalideon can be no reason to doubt that those N4° 116 1 4 1 '4 upon themselves to hold the ballot boxee 0,5 that their contents respond to their wish es idtrj Lincoln has been re-elected, we cannot On b or ing that the means by which his election secured will so thoroughly alarm his fellovito that his rule will be of short duration. 1%00,V,:t have not yet quite forgotten the tradit l ' s pe t i though they are, of their national historltd,l scarcely be prepared to abandon the P i o 10 1 :if principle upon which their Republic 1" r t y namely, that the sovereign power ree lue i ma hands of the people. if indeed atlY , :woo.,i faintest, progress was being made in thek al w hose accomplishment the y . have mad e o p' sacrifices, they might still be induced to e io „, forbearances, could not exist for a single;lol,l even sanguine Unionists must fain confeclbe all practical purposes the subjugation n' 0 01 is as far distant today as it was four deptii when a triumphant Republican majorititot reins of power to Mr Lincoln. The feig4ora which separate Washington from Itiobill,;011., not yet been traversed ; and within the r o tt night one of the best appointed and 0 03 41/0 armies which the Federal Government Riee,sll enabled to send into the field has bell oeffi tempted to force even those outer linee % t ot°, which, at a distance of a dozen mile° , °The r, approaches of the Confederate capital. thed disunion which has already rent in to'n,„.', ll l ginal Republic even now threatens to P" te r results in that portion which boasts t° co o , the whole. Mr Lincoln may be a ble t° we 0 a majority in the electoral colleg e, bn,to o°ll much if he will be sufficiently powerful : 0 tot, the daily increasing ranks of his opponen,pitle an abject submission to a rule which tR a" Of and whose tyranny is not distinguis he redeeming feature: COUNTRY MARPETS• COLCHESTER—NoT, 12. We had a fair supply of wheat on offer at r. to-day, and previous quotations were g eneral l Yloterd Fine barley in demand, and saleable at full/ 8 00 other sorfl difficult of sale, at less money. 13 , 0 e, in short supply, and sally ma i n tain their va' sii Wheat, white .•40s 46s Beans,Mazsg red 36s 42s middle Sic ,D'r Barley 28520 a 26s 35 Peas, white. ite::::: Oats GLOUCESTER—No Y. 12 ' t tof d i There was a good supply of English w le3- f P orefdi our market, which sold freely at late prices. -aorlw in limited demoud, at about former rate' and beaus you &U. • NORTHAMPTON—Nov. '° ' h s cheti l There was a seasonable supply of Eng l , f is ,q l o, 4 l Y, condition of which was rather improved. fully late rats were made. Barley was tinetitT(366,„" —White wheat, new, 40s to 42s ; nevi re' m Vs'"l9 old, 37s to 40s per or. Barley, new maltig, poilto other sorts, 266 to 3os. Old oats, 28s to 34 0 ; ,360 26s per 21 stone. Beans, 35s t0,40e. Feast per qr. . _ --- CHELMSFORD--Nov. 11. e fri v i 1) At this corn exchange ' o -day the supply of sy t 4 plentiful, but we ag ain had a dull trade, and 104 quo t a ti o ns were barely maintained. Spring coil) , 1 a slow sale, with no r iv ance in prices. 0 f Wheat, old white...4os 45s Yuas, Partridge.....o new ..473 41s White ....... 0 s so I old red.... 3 9 s 40 s Boiling ....... "3 1 J 1 new 37s 40 s Dun .....•• 0 ... 0./$ 1 l Barley ..25s 32 s Ditto new ..•'s4s Chevalier .......26s 33 s B eans, Tick, od t"39 '',‘ Grinding .... 20 s 28 s nev Ticlo Ma1t..... 61 s 67 s Ha rrow tle , y •. " 1 64s 68s .. Chevalier Oats 2os 26s Mazagan .."' - 1 KIRKCALDY GRAIN—N° / ' 0 .01 , We had fair supplies of all descriptions °'• and prices were much the same as last Wes.' Osts•a Wheat. Barley. 1 60 6 First....36s Od I 24s 6d I , /g Od Second ..38s 6d 25s Gd od Third....4os Od 27s 6d ""-- the close of the Wails ,f So e u u t g hliel ti h Ham ''' Tunstall .• .• Haswell.. •••• South Hetton Hartlepool ..... )t, 41 ; sold, 39, Foreign Mail Packet 111 MAILS DUE. ..,.14011! 1 4 Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton"' ~.00 I via Marseilles ............... Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet...l6'olol,o Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. ton'/4p' China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southal), P o ~,o- via via INlaro il ' e s.. y Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton ............. .to o' . lol l ' India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via South anW via blar00030::090 India (Bombay), via Southampton ....... via Marseilles ........... . .."0 Portuga1.... Malta, Egypt, and Allen, via Southampton' . ..1 via Marseilles .. • Newfoundland ..................... ....... .., 11' Oporto and Vigo ......... .. F U. S. and British N. America, by Brit pacpaces t t....orpfli by U.S. 1 0° o f b y Canadianlo6o' ~, ) IS All parts of West Indies, including Ch ili, California. and British Columbia. ........... P i Births. do ii ARGYLL.—On the 11th inst ., at Edinburg'' iju' of Argyll, of a daughter. , Ibot' Pr Alc ALDERSON.—On the 14th inst., at 21, ".0 1 ;. dow e r nell-park, N., Mrs. Douglas Alderson, 0 ` - pife e 1 Fox.—On the 12th inst., at Blackheath, ti l 0 1 Fox, Esq., of a daughter. IP t4ff, V.ERNET.—On the 12th inst., at Fairfield, ra of H. Vernet, Esq., of a son, 1 Al Marriages. Cliq 5 , at fi.c; i ii ARTHUR—EAMONDS..--011 the 10th 1011,7 t,„ o•„0, ward, younger son of Wm. S. Arthur, Ps:trate 3 park, Clifton, to Agnes Evelyn, youngest' f ree late Henry Edmonds, Esq., of West °l:4 )1 Ditton, Surrey. 4 . clie, i Y HILLMAN—BAYLY.—On the 10th inst., 9 ' "Il i W. Hillman, EN , of Lyme Regis' Dol l f 3 , 4 0 1, nette, daughter of the late Char ton 13° 7,, t 4 Of Y R.N., and niece of Gen. Sir Henry 134'. fi° I sEr ini‘Esin. aitr cyc ih. aged 91. D ins e t a ., th a r t :. Lower cloP t° ' j BIKES.—On the 12th Sikes, Esq., Q C rr u E A EL Sarah, l —On 0 n O teh n s es th eol2 t l h3t h i t n . s , t . inst., agedvi ,5001,36:1741 Queensberry , gerc - o gv - 4 , HE B son a lli n cT k it , o E r, dinburgh, Charles Charnel°, " I ' s 'le tit" GE.—On the 11th inst., Ge"g e fli Furnivars-inn, aged 66 pill Of HA_NNAY.—On the 11th inst at Islingt, °l/ :ar tf ' Esq., formerly of Carlinwa.rik House, ''"" e 15491 cudbright, aged 70. ~,r 0 0- ' JAILES.—On the 11th inst., at 17, S C4fil ' --1 e , • 4 B E m E a C l i l i , . — W O M II . the i. j lo a t m h es in E st s ., q. a ' t ag 7, ells i 9leriallel . Beech, aged 66. 1j4 , 4. 171; it London : PrinZed and Prl,itshed DY of No. 112, Strand,Printer, at I oP SIV 0 1) Strand, In the Precinct o the S tloi." Middlesex.—Tuesday, voen ber 15, SPIRIT OF out to be a flash in the pan.' The fuse failed. An officer then went up, who must have had great confidence in the gun, and snapped the cap, and off went the big gun. The report was very little louder than that which immediately preceded it. There was no perceptible concussion of the ground, and indeed very little of anything to lead you to think that the greatest gun known to exist had then been fired. The shot whirled through the air from the angle of 25 degrees, at which the gun was elevated, and, after de scribing a beautiful arc, which was visible to the naked eye, dropped into the water about four miles off. The noise made by the collision of the ball and the air, in the flight of the former, was like the wail of a giant. It was something like the peculiar noise made by a hurricane passing through a ship's rigging. It was the scream of the eagle. The volume of spray thrown up by the ball after its contact with the water was so great that we could not see whether it rico cheted or not, though many said it did. Oa examining the effect on the gun, it was discovered that this 'time the giant was foaming a little at the mouth, the smoke of the burnt powder still oozing from the muzzle. He had consented to roll himself back five feet, but in other respects was just as before." CLAIMS AGAINST THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY. —At the Sheriffs' Court, Red Lion-square, yester day, three claims were made against the Metropolitan Rail way for injuries to tradesmen in the Euston-road during the progress of the works of the railway. The first claim was by a Mr Cole, a house decorator and paperhanger in the Euston-road, who claimed £6OO for the injury done to his business in the Euston-road, where he had been successful in trade until he was interfered with by the obstructions caused by the railway. It had so affected him that he got rid of the place and was now out of business. He said he was not aware that he had a claim for compensation. The injury was done in 1861 and 1862. The jury awarded £5OO. In the second case, "Dietman v. the Metropolitan Rail way" the claim was for £6OO. Dietman was a baker and confectioner at the corner of the Hampstead-road, in the Euston-road, where the omnibuses stopped, and money was made out of the business. When the railway came the business fell off, and his daughter said she had remained up all night fearing that the house would fall down. Customers would not enter the shop, and her father's mind became affected. They were obliged to get rid of the lease and to pay the creditors. Her father's mind had given way, and when he got out he always went to the corner shop, and was continually asking when he was to be "taken home." His daughter said that he could neither dress nor feed himself, and she a' :ributed it all to the railway. After the case had proceeded some way the matter was settled. It was admitted to be a hard case, and £lOO was given by the company to settle the matter. The jury gave a verdict for that amount by consent. The third case was "Ell v. the Metropolitan Railway Company," and tho claim was for £650. The claimant was a ladder-maker and wheelwright in the Eus ton-road. The business had been injured in 1861 by the works of the railway, and the claim was delayed by Mr Ell not knowing how to proceed or whether he had a right to compensation. The case was adjourned to the 2d December. In the three cases Mr Waddy appeared for the claimants, and Mr llarrison for the company. Mr Humphreys, the coroner, heard the cases as assessor, in consequence of Mr Sheriff Dakin being one of the directors of the Metropolitan Railway Company. TIMES.—A more handsome proposal has seldom. if ever, been made than that which Lord Spencer explained last Friday to a meeting of the residents of Wimbledon. As Lord of the Manor, he proposes, if the consent of the copyholders and the sanction of Parliament be obtained, to convert all the im portant part of Wimbledon Common into a public park. Such an offer amounts to nothing less than to make the public a present of a large and invalu able tract of ground. Wimbledon is fast becoming nearly es much a suburb of London as Clapham or Hampstead, and land is becoming proportionately valuable for building purposes. Theswarm of houses which spreads from the metropolis in all directions wherever it can obtain an opening has already set tled around the Common, and is but waiting its opportunity to occupy it. In such circumstances no one could fairly have expected that those who had in their hands the disposal of the Common should, except in obediecce to a special law, refuse the great pecuniary advantage thus afforded them. As Lord Spencer stated on Friday, there can be no question that he and the copyho:ders, if they acted in concert, would be the only persons who would have any voice in its disposal. No doubt, therefore, Lord Spencer might, if he had so chosen, have carved the whole Common into building plots, to his own great advantage, but the great loss of the public. More could not possibly have been expected than that a moderate portion should be kept free from brick and mortar, for the health and the ornament of the new neighbourhood. With extraordinary liberality, however, Lord Spencer completely for gets his private interests, and regards solely the benefit of the public. e offers to abandon alto. gether the prospect of deriving any personal profit from the Common and to dedicate it for ever as a park to the use of the public. So far as can be judged at present the copyholders second these ge nerous intentions, but Parliament will, of course, have nothing left to it but to accept with fitting gratitude and honour such a public-spirited offer. The fact of this surrender in itself would be suf ficient to deserve the heartiest acknowledgments, but the value of the gift is enhanced in the only way that is possible—by the manner in which it is conveyed. Though the decision of the matter, as we have said, rests with himself and the copy holders, subject to the sanction of Parliament, Lord Spencer takes the residents of Wimbledon into his councils, and offers to be guided in a measure by their opinions and wishes. Not contented with making the public a splendid gift, he deprives him self to some extent of the privilege of a donor, and allows us in some way to determine the method of his generosity. It would be hard, however, to ima gine a more liberal, or apparently a more satisfac tory, scheme than that which he has himself cons ceived. He proposes to enclose with a light iron railing the portion of the Common which lies be• tween the village of Wimbledon and the Kingston. road. This inclosure would be thoroughly drained, openings would be left at sufficient intervals to offer ready access from all points, the present roads would be improved, new roads would be made, lodges built, and the ground would be generally ornamented and improved. All this would, of course, involve a considerable expense, and there are Common rights which would have to be com pensated. This expense he proposes to meet by the sale of outlying portions of the Common. These portions are of little public use, but they are, no doubt, as valuable for houses as any other parts, and it is not supposed that it will be necessary to sell them all, The whole expense therefore of the formation of the park will be provided for from the Common itself, and the public will not have to con tribute anything to so great a boon, When the park is formed Lord Spencer proposes to take upon himself and his successors the whole current charges of management and repairs, retaining for this pur pose the exclusive right of pasturage. He would also be the superintendent, with the title of Protec tor, and, in conjunction with a Government official, he would have the entire control of the park. By this authority bye laws would be framed for the management ; and it would be understood that, by the consent of the Protector and the Government official, associations of a national character should be allowed to hold meetings there, This joint con• trol of an officer of Government he modestly pro poses as a proper check to protect the public from the consequences of any whim or caprice on the part of himself or his successors'. By this scheme the public would have secured to them for ever a beautiful park of not less than 700 acres, or not very far from the extent of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together—a park which has been found by experience to be admirably adapted for the purposes of such national associa tions as Lord Spencer has in view, and which at all times would offer to the inhabitants of London the most healthy and picturesque place of recreation. We do not see how a more thoughtful or more liberal scheme could have'abeen proposed. In order, how ever, to estimate properly the boon which is thus ' offered to us, it is necessary to remember from how great a difficulty and _even danger it may be the means of extricating us, Our readers will rememe ber the sharp passage of arms which took place in the House of Commons last session on the question of providing open spaces around the metropolis. In the excitement which preceded the great Danish debate it assumed the rank of a little party skirmish, and the Government were defeated by a resolution which declared it to be their duty to provide for the preservation of these open spaces. At the same time it was felt that the resolution laid on them a task of extreme difficulty and vast expense. The importance of the object, indeed, was far beyond that of any mere party struggle. It is absolutely essential for the health of the population of London, if not for the purity of the air itself, that this vast living organisation of brick and mortar should not spread its petrifying power over every green field that surrounds us. We must have within reasonable reach of us opportunities for exercising that myste. rious commerce which not our body alone, but every faculty of our nature, seems to carry on with nature. For great numbers in this city it is hard enough to obtain these opportunities now, but it promised soon to become harder still. London is extending in every direction as it is over Wimbledon, and it seemed as if nothing but special legislation could prevent every common and green from being over• spread with villas ..nd cottages. No one ever dreamt that the proprietors of these open spaces, daily becoming more and more valuable, would spontaneously consult the public welfare instead of their private interests, and would willingly sacrifice claims which, without just complaint, they might have firmly maintained and hardly sold. Bat what no one could have dreamt of Lord Spencer has done. While we are deliberating how partly to purchase and partly to claim a necessity, he makes us a pre. sent of it; and while we are considering how to adjust the sacrifices which he must make for our benefit and we for his interests, he cuts the knot by making all the sacrifices himself, and leaving us none which we can take upon ourselves. We need hardly add that of all the open spaces near London which it was important to preserve Wimbledon is, perhaps, the most important. POST.—Ere the close of the present week we Shall learn the result of the Presidential election in America, and shall know definitively to whom the government of the Northern Republic is entrusted for the next four years. On Tuesday last those States which, either willingly or under coercion, acknowledge the authority of the established Go vernment chose the delegates who constitute the electoral college, and as the latter are simply the mouth-pieces of those who appoint them, as soon as the constituent members of the college are known the result of the election is no longer a matter of doubt. That we are impatient on this side of the ' Atlantic to know whether the Republican or the Democratic candidate is the victor, it would be affectation to deny, though, so far as regards that in which we alone feel an interest, namely, the war, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to affirm which of the rival factions would soonest bring it to a conclusion. It is not, however, in respect to its immediate result that the election of the Federal President is invested with its chief interest or its principal importance. Under a Lincoln or a M'Clellan the Republic might possibly hurry to wards ruin with equally rapid strides, bat the index which the mode in which that election has been conducted furnishes of the changes which a very brief period has sufficed to work in American insti tutions cannot fail to rivet universal attention. The occasions have been, unfortanately, but too fre. quent on which we have been called upon to note the apparent indifference with which American citizens have permitted a responsible Government to usurp those unlimited powers whose exorcise is witnessed alone under a pure despotism, but it is only now that we are made fully aware of the im mensity of the evil which has been wrought by that ill-advised connivance at the misdeeds of the Administration which was begotten by an over• whelming desire to re-establish the Union. Each fresh violation of the constitution was readily excused under the plea of military necessity, until at last the constitution for whose preservation so much blood has been spilt has ceased to exist. The population of the Northern States permitted their elective magistrate to assume supreme power. in the hopes of seeing it employed in subjugating their foes. They now find, however, that the only practical use to which it has been applied is the annihilation of their politic& liberties. The events of the past few weeks have notoriously created a strong revulsion of feeling in favour of M'Clellan, but it is no less notorious that the issue of the pend ing election was not influenced thereby in the slightest degree. The framers of the American cone stitution took special care to deprive the President of the right of interference in the election of his JOURNAL S ItEMEM of of er t 1 IVNAL This celebr• BI It pure O 1 ' "- the 4 111 Doti ents GR 01) 8 EA , th( " t G YPTI 41 Th e b th e ”onds IStOctob Tlb, 1 - n 11 Z Sink!. ti The B Lr 1 Th oo , ond s The firs _lres Bl . 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